weight



(No Model.)

' W. H. WRIGHT.

BASE FOR CLOCKS.

No. 594,309. Patented Nov. 23,1897.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM II. WRIGHT, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE E.

INGRAHAM COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

BASE FDR CLOCKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 594,309, dated November 23, 1897. Application filed April 3, 1897. Serial No. 630,581. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. WRIGHT, of Bristol, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Bases for Clocks; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, an exterior perspective view of one form which a clock-base constructed in accordance with my invention may assume; Fig. 2, an interior View of the said clock-base, which is shown in an inverted position; Fig. 3, a View of the clock-base in transverse section, showing the panel, the front moldingsection, and one of the tacks employed for securing the said molding-section to the panel.

This invention relates to an improvement in the construction of the bases of wooden clock-cases, which I may term framed cases for the reason that they are composed of a number of parts or sections framed together. The bases for such clocks comprise a panel, upon which the body of the clock rests, and a sectional molding or foot, which supports the panel. Heretofore in the construction of such bases the panel has been secured to the molding-sections by means of nails or screws passed downward from the upper surface of the panel into the upper edges of the molding-sections. The construction described makes it necessary to set the heads of the nails or screws below the upper surface of the panel for a sufficient depth to permit the introduction of putty preparatory to finishing the said surface of the panel in a proper manner. This entails expense; but, more than that, the upper surface of the panel is marred seriously, and no amount of puttying or finishing can compensate for once marring it. It never looks as well again. The construction described also requires the planing of the upper edges of the moldingsections, so as to secure true bearing-surfaces for the panel to rest upon, and this planing operation adds to the expense of the base. In the said prior construction also the nails or screws are supplemented by means of blocks of wood glued to the inner surfaces of the abutting parts, and particularly in the corners of the base. These blocks are not only expensive to apply, but they are very ineffectual, as they hold only as long as there is life in the glue, and, indeed, are apt to be dislodged before the life is out of the glue.

The object of my present invention is to avoid the objections above set forth and to produce at a greatly-reduced cost of manufacture a strong clock-base without marring any of the parts thereof and without the employment of wooden blocks.

With these ends in view my invention consists in a clock-base having certain details of construction, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim.

As herein shown, the framed base consists of three molding-sections A, which are mitered together and which form, as it were, the foot or support of the base, and a long rectangular panel C, which is applied to the upper edges of the molding-sections and which supports the body of the clock-case, which is not shown. Each of the said n1olding-sections is formed at its upper edge with an inwardly-projecting integral assembling-flange B, which extends throughout its length, the upper faces of the said flanges being coincident with the upper edges of the molding-sections, from which edges, indeed, they are not properly distinguishable. The said flanges are produced, as shown, by forming longitudinal rabbet-like cuts in the upper portions of the inner faces of the molding-sections, which are inclined or pitched from the vertical, so that when assembled the molding-sections form a spreading foot or support.

In assembling the several parts of one of my improved framed clock-bases the molding-sections are preferably assembled by the use of wire staples. The foot or support thus formed is then placed in an inverted position upon the lower face of the panel, as shown in Fig. 2, after which fastening devices are driven downwardly through the assemblingiianges of the molding-sections into the lower face of the panel. For fastening devices I shall properly employ tacks D. These tacks may be relied upon to make their own holes, but preferably the holes will be prepared for them in the assembling-flanges of the molding-sections. Preferably,also,theassembled molding-sections and the panel will be placed in a device by means of which all of the tacks will be set at a single operation. In practice it is found that in forcing the tacks into the hard wood of which the panels are usually formed their points will be deflected and turned, as shown in Fig. 3, so that they will not project through the upper surface of the panel, but will clench, so as to rigidly secure the panel to the molding-sections. The upper surface of the panel will not therefore be pierced and marred, and the necessity of filling the holes usually caused by the fastening devices in the panel is avoided.

Cloclobases constructed in accordance with my invention may be very rapidly and therefore cheaply made, and when done they are less expensive to finish than similar bases made in the old way and present a better appearance than the same can present. They are, moreover, very strong, particularly when the molding-sections are bound together by wire staples instead of being joined by glue and blocks.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

As a new article of manufacture, a framed clock-base consisting of several wooden in olding-sections framed together and each provided upon the inner face of its upper edge with an integral, inwardly-projeeting assembling-fiange extending throughout its length, and formed by cutting away a portion of its inner face, a panel placed upon the upper edges of the said framed molding-sections so as to rest upon the assembling-flanges thereof; and fastening devices passed upward through the said flanges into the lower face of the panel which they firmly bind to the framed inoldin gsections, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

XVILLIAM II. .VRIGIIT. lVitnesses:

LOREN A. BALLOU, ALFRED RAE. 

